UK slams Netanyahu over ‘Islamic republic’ remark
Jerusalem, PALESTINE—Britain on Friday hit back at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu derisively calling the country an “Islamic republic” in an interview, branding the remarks “completely unacceptable.”
The diplomatic tit-for-tat came after the right wing prime minister made the reference in an army radio podcast interview the previous day, in which he criticized the United Kingdom’s stance on Israel.
It echoed the language of far right politicians and commentators in the Western world who have made baseless claims that parts of Britain have come under Islamic law due to immigration, drawing accusations of Islamophobia.
“These comments are completely unacceptable and we have raised them with the Israeli Government,” a UK government spokesperson said Friday.
In the podcast interview, Netanyahu spoke of how Winston Churchill’s grandson and namesake vocally supported Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
“Would you find that now?” Netanyahu asked.
“Someone once said that the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons would be the Islamic republic of Britain,” he added with a smile.
“We’re making sure there’s not another one here in Iran.” Britain was one of a number of European countries that recognized Palestinian statehood last year, infuriating Israel.
More recently, its new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that his predecessor Keir Starmer did not put enough pressure on Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza.
In a BBC radio interview earlier on Friday, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer appeared to downplay Netanyahu’s comments.
“He (Netanyahu) was making a quote that someone else had given,” Mencer said, noting United States Vice President JD Vance had “made those comments” previously.
Vance told the Munich Security Summit in 2024 that the UK could become “the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon.”
